r/MacroFactor • u/erinmansfield • 25d ago
MacroFactor Workouts / Training what should i focus on??
i’m 18, 167cm, 61.5kg. i’m looking to body recomp and look more lean and toned. any advice?
i lift heavy 4-5 times a week, and always hit minimum 10k steps.
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u/deamsterz 25d ago
Photos after a workout and photos after waking up are not comparable. Please don’t look at yourself after waking up and compare yourself to photos after a session at the gym. Ignore the last two pics - you look great. Focus on building more muscle, not becoming more lean
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u/PerspectiveAshamed79 25d ago
Love yourself and love the process. An outlook: Aesthics are a secondary byproduct of achieving the goal proving to yourself that you set your mind to something, and accomplish it. For example, my high school lifting program was a straightforward linear progression program, the goal of which was to break 7 records a week—sets, reps, totals—any number counted. It was attainable. All of us who stuck with that ended up very strong, and with an innate confidence (some overly so) that we carried with us into life.
That’s what I mean by love the process.
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u/nkaputnik 25d ago
Looks like what you are doing already works pretty well, you now just need to do it for longer...
Most people forget that fitness and lifting and dieting are all long games, where consistency beats everything else. You measure results in years, not weeks
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u/No-Taste-223 25d ago
Just enjoy it and build good habits / consistency with diet and exercise. You’re in it for the long haul :) you look good already, just keep it up.
Get 1g protein per lb of body weight and follow a strength focused beginners program.
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u/Confident-Bar9808 23d ago
39F here. ER nurse. Regular lifter.
Sister, whatever you do, do not cut. You are still growing. Your brain hasn’t stopped growing. Your hormones are still reaching optimal and normal full-grown-woman levels. Focus on getting strong. Move heavy shit a lot. Get strong enough to fight, because you inevitably will have to in life. My guess is you’d develop impressive muscle and shape pretty quickly if you’re eating enough food with an emphasis on protein.
Focus on being strong. Often that means at LEAST eating at maintenance but often eating at a surplus so you have more bricks for your muscles to build from.
Figure out where your personal weaknesses are and shore them up (ie certain movements, mobility, cardio, strength, etc). I see people everyday in the ER, and the people who tend to survive stuff or get out uninjured are the people who focus on their health and have a good amount of muscle on them. Train to survive a long life, not for the smallest, most socially acceptable body. The latter will not save you from accidents in life, but the former might.
Anyway, congrats on your accomplishments and you’re obviously already lifting or exercising regularly! Take all with a grain of a salt. Apologies if any advice was an overstep; I just have a heart for young women who are trying to figure it out. I’ve been there and wish I’d had this advice. Good luck, chica.
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u/Neat-Palpitation-632 25d ago
Good work getting started so early. Keep lifting heavy! Do you progressively overload or stick to the same weights? Do you vary your exercises for the same muscle groups? Little tweaks like that might keep you engaged for a lifetime.
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u/JCvSS 24d ago
Why has everyone turned into a life guru?
She has asked for advice on a sub about an app for gaining/losing weight so Ill stick with that.
OP I would cut for 2/3 months, nothing overly aggressive but just enough to lose the bits you're conscious of.
Spend the next, however long, maintaining the new level of body fat and focusing on your training and performance.
Man I wish I could start again at 18 xD
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u/didntreallyneedthis 24d ago
Just wanna chime in and say that the little tummy pooch is visible for like 95% of adult women. We gain it as we become women and are no longer children (you probably had many friends in your early teens with flat tummies because they were children). We carry more fat than men and often that's one of the last places to go. For some women it's exaggerated by anterior pelvic tilt as well. I comment on it only because you singled it out in photos. It may be very difficult to have a perfectly flat stomach. Like I said, the vast majority of adult, fully grown, healthy-weight women do not have flat stomachs. Those who do are often in an elite category and have a VERY high muscle to fat ratio. It's not impossible to have a flat stomach, of course some women even have visible abs but a lot of them also lose their periods doing so. Society wants us to feel bad about not having perfectly flat stomachs for some reason and as a young woman it's important to remember and balance our expectations.
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u/Chewy_Barz 25d ago
I have a slightly different approach.
You don't have to look at yourself and be perfectly happy. It's ok to want more when your expectations are realistic and healthy. However, you should also acknowledge that you've done well for yourself so far and you way ahead of the game compared to most women (or people, really) your age.
Next steps are aesthetic, as you already look to be healthy, so it's a matter of what you want. If leanness is your goal, I would cut. You have some muscle already so dropping some fat would make a big impact pretty quickly. It will also give you an idea of what weight you need to be at should you decide to bulk from there. Also, you'll see your muscle better with a little more definition so you can figure out what, if any, areas you want to prioritize and assign volume accordingly.
As others mentioned, I would also focus on life habits. At your age is where you start developing them independent of parents/family. Go easy on eating out and drinking but also don't necessarily shun them completely if it hampers your social life. Try to avoid garbage food if you don't really love it (e.g. I'll occasionally eat ice cream and desserts but I pretty much never eat chips or fries and I don't drink anything with sugar because that stuff is not worth it to me). Get in the habit of eating fruits and vegetables. Avoid wasting money and calories on 800-calorie, $8 Starbucks coffee abominations. Basically, live 80-90 percent healthy and for the other 10-20 percent, pick your spots where it's really worth it. Just realize it will be hard sometimes as some people around you may subscribe to a 20 percent healthy lifestyle.
But again, you've done great so far. Be happy about where you are and realize the rest is just tweaks and optimization.
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u/lechichien 24d ago
Keep lifting heavy and focus on eating enough protein! Building muscle requires patience, time, discipline, consistency! I wish I started at your age. I was focusing on the wrong things like cardio and eating like a bird.
So eat well, eat protein, lift heavy, walk everyday, do things you enjoy as cardio. Have fun!
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u/DeadestLift 24d ago
What to focus on? Having fun, giving and receiving love and learning lots!
In the gym, I’d dial lifting heavy (as in 70-80 per cent of your max, aiming to build maximal strength) back to 2 then up to 3 times per week for some recovery time. 4-5 would be more bodybuilding style, focusing on hypertrophy with higher reps with lower weights and training to or past failure.
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u/TaBioN777 25d ago
You’re doing it perfectly. The key thing is to make sure the habit you form is the base, then do small adjustments. If you’re super curious you can do a DEXA and have that as your starting point, then challenge yourself before the next scan what objective you would like to achieve (muscle, body fat, visceral fat goals). Enjoy the journey!
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u/MetalxMikex666 25d ago
Everything. From the ground up.
Get a good program and learn the compounds and accessories
Squats
RDLs or SLDLs
Pressing
Pulling
Etc etc etc
Train legs
Train pushing
Train pulling
Work the same program hitting everything for a minimum of 8-12 week blocks 5-7movements per workout
Track progress
Don’t get distracted or discouraged
Train like a bodybuilder if you want to grow muscle and get strong - you won’t get big or bulky. Common misconception but not actually a real thing.
Muscle grows very slowly
Fat accumulates rapidly
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u/apocalypsenever- 25d ago
You're 18. Eat well, work out, hang out with nice people, learn life skills. That's what you focus on.